Folding ironing board



May 22, 1923.

H. PIKE FOLDING monmb BOARD Filed Feb. 27. 1922 Z5 mines: 5 [722/67 for Patented May 22, 1923.

U 5 ET aaaiai HERBERT PIKE, or CHICAGO, I LinoI's FOLDING mourns BOARD.

Application filed'February 27, 1922. -Seria1 No. 539,350.

such boards'in'which the parts thereof can be folded together, so as to occupy but little space when not in use, or whenit is desired to ship the same, and it consists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel arrangement and combination of the various parts thereof, as'will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

One of the important objects of the invention is the provision in an ironing board of. means whereby the board or garment support thereof shall be pivotally mounted near one of-its ends on a pair of supporting legs and detachably supported near its other end on another pair of such legs, in such a way, that one end ofthe board, say the front end thereof, can be readily detached from its support, thus permitting the board to be turned on a pivot so as to assume and maintain an inclined position downwardly from its front end, so that it will be unnecessary, for the user of the board, to employ either hand to'hold. the board away from the front pair of legs or in an inclined position, but so that the user can employ both hands in placing and adjusting a garment, such as a skirt or the'like, over and around the inclined board, after which, the front part of the board can be depressed and caused to engage its support-"and be ready for use.-

Another object is to provide means forautomatically elevating the board from its normal position. 1

Still another object is to provide simple and efiicient means for so that it canbe readily releasedtherefrom. ()ther'objects and advantages of the invention will be disclosed in the following description and explanation. In .the accompanying drawing, which serves to illustrate an embodiment of. the invention', I Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation showing the parts by continuous lines in their norbracket w are by automatically fasten- 7 ing the board to its detachable support, yet

111211 or operative positions and illustrating by dotted lines some of the parts inthe act of being-folded towards the board, as well as the raisedposition of the board.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged bottom plan.v'iewtaken on line 2--2 of Fig. 1 showing the means for detachably securingthe front pair of supporting legs to the front portion of the board.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. Zloolzing tion indicated by the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a rear end view of the board and a portion of thesupporting legs therefor.

Fig. 5 is a detached perspectiveview of one of the looking or securing braces oi-the support, and Fig. 6 is a bottomplan sectional' view taken on line 66 ofFig. '4 '7 showing the springs and their associated parts for acuating theironing board.

in the 'di'rec-" Corresponding numerals of reference refer to like parts throughout the d fferent views I of he drawing.

The board or support for garments is designated by the numeral 8' and maybe of any suitable size, form and material, but

referabl 1 elongated and having one of its 2.. \J.

ends tapered as is clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. The rear porti'on of'the board .8 has transversely mounted thereon at its rear end bracket 9 which has at each of its ends ads;

which is :v

a suitable distance froa pending meniber .10 to each ,of 7 pivotally securedtheupper end of a supporting leg 11 which legsare spaced iz'ipart and held n such position by means of brace bars 12-12 and 13, one of thebars 12 being located transversely on the upper portion of and the other bar 12 similarly disposed on the 'lower"poi;'

thepair of supporting tion of'said legs. while the bar" l-Spis di' agonally arranged with respect to said legs."

The '11 as well as the'body-l ofthe' iron.

preference 1 made fof angle hfounted longitudinally on the lowers'urface of'the rear portion of the board '8 and in parallelism with one another area pair of substantially U-shaped guiding and locking members 14 for a yoke 15 which lies across the members 14' and between the sameandthe lower surface of-the board, as will be' readily understood by ieference to Figs. 1"

. arms 16 connected to theLupp'er brace bar 12 i by means of coil springs 17 within the coils and 4- of the drawings. This'yolre l5 has' its -.turned ends of the socket.

of which springs the said arms are by preference extended. Each of the guide members 14. is provided in its upper edge near its rear end with a notch or recess 18 to receive the yoke 15 in such a way as to cause the tension of the springs 17 to be exerted on sail members and the rear end of the board so as to automatically depress the said end of the board when its front portion is released.

Near its front end the board 8 has transversely mounted on its lower surface a. piece of angle iron 19 which has its'endsturned inwardly as at.20 to form a socket for the upper. end of the front supporting legs 21 which are spaced from each other and con nected together at their upper ends by a cross-piece 22 of a size tofit between the in- The legs 21 as well as their connecting portion or cross piece 22 are by preference made of angle iron. At about its middle the vertically disposed wall of the connecting portion 22 of v the legs 21 is provided with a recess 23 for the reception of'a locking pin 2-1 which is carried by a leaf or fiat spring 25 secured atone of its ends to the front surface of the socket near one of its ends. This spring extends horizontally along the socket and has its free end turned outwardly therefrom to provide a handle 26 orthumb-piece for disengaging the lock pin 241 from the cross-bar or portion 22 of the front legs. The lock pin 24: is upwardly beveled as shown at 27 in Fig. 3, so that when the board 8 is pressed downwardly so as to cause the socket to receive the upper portion of the legs 21, the upper surface of the part 22 will strike the beveled portion, 27 of thelocking pin 24 and thus cause said pin and its'spring to be moved outwardly until the recess 23 in the part 22 registers with said pin. when it is apparent it will be caused by the action of the spring 25 to automaticallyengage the portion 22 of the front legs and thus hold the board securely inplace thereon.

Extending longitudinally with the board and in parallelism with one another are connections 28 each of which comprises two pieces 29 the adjacent ends of which are pivotally connected together and the outer ends of which are pivotally secured to the lower portions of the front and rear supporting legs, as will be understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 4: of the drawing. Pivotally secured at its lower endto each of the rear portions 29 of each of the connections 28 is a jointed bracket 30 the upper end of each of which is 'pivotally secured to one of the legs 11 near its upper end. Pivotally secured at its lower end to each of the front portions 29 of the connections 28 is ajointed brace 31 the upper end of each of which is pivotally secured to oneof the front legs 21 above its middle;

By reference to Fig. which'is shown representing a detached view of one of the jointed braces 30, but which may represent one of the jointed braces 31, as they are of the same construction, it'will be observed. that said braces are made of two pieces 32 and 33 which are pivotally connected to gether at their adjacent ends by means of a bolt passing through openings 34 in said pieces. The portion 33 of each of the braces is provided with a'recess 35 to receive a laterally extending lug or projection 36 on the lower end of the portion 32 thus locking the two parts together and preventing downward movement thereof.

From the foregoing and by reference to the drawing, it will be seen and clearly understood that by moving the braces 30 and 31 as well as the connections 28 upwardly at their joints and by disconnecting the.

legs 21 from the front portion of the board, which may be done by pressing the handle portion 26 of the spring 25 outwardly so as to withdraw the pin 24c'from locking engagement with the part 22 of the front legs, the supporting parts may be folded together and against the board, thus occupying a limited amount of space when the board is not in use or when it is desired to ship the same] It will be further understood that by pressing the braces 30 and 31' as well as the connections 28 downwardly at their joints, the braces will be locked against further downward movement by reason of the engagement of the lugs 36 with the recesses 85 of the members of said braces Assuming the partsof the device to be in the position illustrated by continuous lines in Fig. 1 and it is desired to place a.

ga'rmentsuch as a skirt orpetticoat over and around the board 8 to be ironed, all that is necessary, is to press the handle 26 of the spring 25' forwardly, which operation will release the socket from the upper portion of the front supportinglegs and allow the springs 17 of the yoke 15' to exert their tension through said yoke and the guide members 1 1 against the rear end of the board 8,thus causing it to be tilted to about the position shownby dotted lines in Fig."

1 and to be maintained in such position, when it is apparent that the garment can be placed over the free end of the board, d

eration the legs 11 may be tilted rearwardly 1 a slight distance which will cause the yoke 15 to dis-engage the notches 18 in which disengaged position said yoke can 'be maintained by turning the table bottom upwards or by placing the board with its rear end downwardly, thus enabling the parts to be folded to about the positions shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 without interference by the yoke 15 engaging the locking recesses in the guide members Mtherefor.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire'to secure by Letters Patent is In a device of the class described, the combination with a supporting frame including a pair of frontsupporting legs and a-pair of rear supporting legs, of an ironingboard mounted on said rear legs for tilting movement and adapted 'for detachable engagement with the upper portion of said front legs, a guide member having a recess in its upper surface longitudinally mounted on the lower surface of the rear portion of said board and spaced therefrom, a spring-actuated yoke mounted on the upper portion of the rear legs astride said guide member and normally in engagement with its recess.

HERBERT PIKE. 

